Google Maps is introducing Google Maps Maker badges as a mark of achievement. Because – there’s a lot that goes into Google Maps. The technology behind it is just one invisible part. The visible contribution which we often fail to see is the community that lends support to Google Maps in many ways. People share information and when it comes to geographical locations around them, then their little inputs goes a long way in making Google Maps as accurate as possible. One of the tools to provide feedback to Google Maps is the Map Maker tool.

The Map Maker tool enables locals to share information with the rest of the world about businesses, school campuses, and any other point of interest that can be pinpointed on a map. This on the ground ‘intelligence’ goes a long way in making Google Maps more accurate for people who use it. To make individual participation more visible to the rest of the world, Google Maps Maker is rewarding users with badges.

Google says:

You can earn badges for everything from making your first edit in Map Maker, to organizing a MapUp event or contributing to Map Makerpedia. Some badges even have stars you can earn for each milestone within a category.

You can start by making the first edit, and hopefully one day climb up to the final level of being a member of the Regional Expert Reviewers (RER) team. Any badge earned will be prominently displayed on a user’s Map Maker Profile, as well as when you hover over a mapper’s username. The Map Maker Badges guide page tells you more.

Saikat is a techno-adventurer in a writer's garb. When he is not scouring the net for tech news, you can catch him looking for life hacks and learning tidbits. You can find him on LinkedIn & Twitter watching over the world.